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P&W 13" toolroom lathe, opinions?

shaggy

Hot Rolled
Joined
Sep 29, 2010
Location
Oakland CA
I'd like something a few notches above my SB9 in power and precision. This little guy is available close to me, and I think I could almost fit him in.
Unfortunately the top/compound slide is missing, and the price looks a bit steep anyway, but something shouldn't be hard to adapt if the final price was right. Asking is 4600-(!)OBO.

What do you think, pass or..?

--thanks
 

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A real orphan there - never seen another - did not know they ever made them (or had them made)

It would be shear luck to find any pubs related (certainly none at VM).

"Parts" I expect would be totally non existent

Considering the above, the price is fantastically high
 
Thanks John. Yeah, it's crazy high. Unfortunately around here any small to medium engine lathe seems in the mind of the seller worth twice what it ought to be.
On the other hand, there was a L&S 16" last week I could have got for $1200, if I'd had the space for it.
 
That does look like a sweet lathe though, as long as you don't want threading. It says OBO so putting in a bid might not hurt.
 
That does look like a sweet lathe though, as long as you don't want threading. It says OBO so putting in a bid might not hurt.

oh. I ass-umed it was threadcutting. 'Toolrom', and all(?)

So, just feeds? That's pretty much a deal breaker for me.
 
That is a stout looking, well designed lathe though. No compound and no threading should drop the sold price quite a bit, no matter what they ask for. Are you sure you do enough threading that it will matter? The rest of the lathe looks like it may well make up for that shortcoming.
 
Yeah, I do cut a lot of threads. Could not cope without the quick change box on the SB9.

Guess I didn't look close enough at the feed drive 'screws'. dang

PS - offered at a little over 3000- now, no compound slide, toolpost, or DROs. Not dealbreakers for me.

But no screwcutting, I'll have to pass.

--thanks guys!
 
P&W 13" toolroom lathe, opinions?

Looks like Italian styling. The headstock “swoosh” is like an old Graziano SAG. Could it be a rebadged import? I wonder about the threading. I suppose you could run threading off the carriage rack with the right positive clutching. However, there do not seem to be enough gearbox labels to comport with threading.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Could be - in the top left corner of the second pic (above), you can see some foreign text on the cover of the manual.

Here's some more from the listing that might give more clues. The seller picked it up from the previous long-time owner, and seems to have a limited amount of info on it.

From the catalog, it looks like a nice machine. I just don't think I could get over it not having threadcutting capability. I'd have to fall back on the SB9 for that, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a sturdier lathe.
 

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I thought the lathe was French and imported by P and W towards the end of their production. It might be Italian but it wasn't manufactured by Pratt. It has been listed for a few months. There may even be an old PM thread on these machines as I remember reading about it before. Dave
 
Searched Practical Machinist, Pratt & Whitney SIM T5 production lathe, could not find anything.

Fairbanks-Whitney??

Found this: (excerpt)

"...In 1958, Fairbanks-Morse merged with Penn-Texas and was renamed Fairbanks-Whitney.

Following the merger, came a period of stagnation for Fairbanks-Whitney. New leadership was brought in four years later when George Strichman was appointed president. Renamed Fairbanks Weighing Division of Colt Industries, Fairbanks experienced a rebirth.

1966, 1975 - New Manufacturing Facility Built
A modern manufacturing plant replaced the deteriorating facilities in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, in 1966. And in 1975, a new factory was built in Meridian, Mississippi, producing a variety of products designed for heavy capacity weighing. ..."

https://www.fairbanks.com/company/history.cfm

Looks like the typical depressing mess of US companies in decline. Nothing about Morse-Fairbanks buying Pratt & Whitney Tools, or about lathes or other machine tools, or imported/rebadged machine tools.

Just thinking... wow, I could own a piece of forgotten history :)
 
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Most of it looks like a one-piece casting -- no wonder it's so bloody heavy.

Trying to think of a halfway decent reason to buy it, but having all that nice precision with no threadcutting would be a real bummer.

But I'm a sick puppy. Part of me just wants it :D
 
No, there's just a fixed mounting plate for a front toolpost where the compound was, and that's it.

I can't see investing money on symmetrical dies, when I should probably just look for another screwcutting lathe.
In other words, given that I've barely enough room for one more lathe (making two in all), this obviously wouldn't be my best choice.
 
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Shaggy, I just sent you a PM. I may have a machine that might fit your needs that I'd be down to sell.

As for the P&W, I've never seen one of those but I generally really like the lines of it and the design. I do wonder what the last carriage control is since it's clearly not half-nuts. And in general seems like a shame that it doesn't thread (I also prefer infinitely variable spindle speeds for machines this size, but that's personal taste). Also .0015" seems little coarse for the finest feed in such a nice machine.

Lastly 7.5hp is a lot of motor for a lathe this small, especially a gearhead. Then again extra power isn't a bad thing.

For a roughing/first operation lathe, this could be really sweet. But I agree not for a shop with only one lathe. And I know removing compound slides is in vogue in the youtube/instagram machinist worlds, but I use my compound pretty regularly. Plus the way they left the t-slot uncovered on their compound replacement just begs to be filled with chips.

Good luck finding a lathe, whether or not it's not this one or the one I'm selling.
 
Another reason not to get this one is the spindle bore being just 1" in diameter. Too small for 5C collets and very limiting for working on longish shafts, especially considering the fairly short bed.

Paolo
 








 
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